When masters arrive in the town of Donye of the Samora allotment to recruit students, the life of thirteen-year-old Elga Galkava changes irrevocably. Unexpectedly for herself, she becomes a student of Unissa Maru, the master of leaves. From now on, her fate consists of roads and towns, lessons in composing magic pictures and pain in her fingers. She carries a huge sak with leaves on her back. At the same time, somewhere in the west, another master begins his campaign. Master of Death. Their meeting is apparently inevitable.